Wine Review / Articles

Chardonnay, in my opinion, gets a bad rap. Sure some are over-blown and flabby, but face it…many folks enjoy that creamy buttery profile that comes from oak and malolactic fermentation; good for them. That said, stainless steel fermented Chardonnay can be lean and crisp and many are somewhere in between. Just about anyone who enjoys white wine can find a Chardonnay to suit their palate.

So for those who prescribe to the tired ABC adage “Anything But Chardonnay,” I say phooey…This summer I’m “All In for Chardonnay!”Continue reading »

Over the past few months I have been introduced to the exciting Italian wines created by the Giordano family of Giordano Wines. If you are not familiar with Giordano’s award winning wines, you are not alone. It is only recently that Giordano Wines have been available in the U.S. and still on a limited basis. But that is all about to change.Continue reading »

In the early days of Wine Reviews at Bacchus and Beery Wine Blog I wanted to be a bit rebellious so I eschewed the 100-Point wine rating system made famous by Robert Parker and adopted by just about every other mainstream wine reviewer around. To that end I, until this week, used a 5-Point rating system…very rebellious…very unique…note the sarcasm. Of course that was only after I found that using a set of 1-5 thumbs up graphics was far too complex for my understanding of blogging technology.Continue reading »

Damn it is sweltering outside. What is the perfect wine to cool off from a blistering day? For me no wine screams summer more than a beautiful dry rosé. No, not talking sweet white Zinfandel or the Mateus of my youth, but wonderfully refreshing dry rosé wines. While a nice chilled rosé is the perfect patio pounder sipper, they can also pair beautifully with summer fare, ranging from fruit salad topped with poppy seed dressing to grilled salmon or chicken.

So bring on the heat, start the patio party, fire up the grill and allow me to share with you some of the best American rosés I have found for this summer so far. BTW…Patio party season has just begun, so check back with Bacchus and Beery Wine Blog for another rosé update in a month or so.Continue reading »

“A single, great vineyard sight can express itself and be transparent through to a bottle of wine. You can actually taste the vineyard’s character in the glass.” Jamie Kutch – Kutch Wines Pinot Noir

I’ll admit it; I love single-vineyard wines. There is something about the nuance and singularity that speaks volumes me. When drinking a single-vineyard wine, I like to imagine the vineyard, its rows of vibrant vines offering abundant fruit. Sometimes I’ll even go techie and try to find pictures of the vineyard on Google so I can be even more anchored to the very spot that produced the wine in my glass. If I’ve personally walked amongst the vines of a particular vineyard, I can return with just a tip of my glass and a bit of imagination.

I wanted to learn more about these special wines. But not from the perspective of the wine drinker, I wanted to learn from winemakers themselves. So with the help of a few talented single-vineyard winemakers, here’s what I learned in a nutshell. The winemaker’s ultimate duty to single-vineyard wines compels him/her to draw on the incalculable variations of each vintage to bring forth the true voice and personality of the vineyard. When made well, a single-vineyard wine will convey a very specific sense of place, nuance and art. Obviously not all vineyards produce fruit with enough unique characteristics to be worthy of vineyard designation. Vineyards, like people, all have something to say, but not everything said is worth your attention.Continue reading »